Elvis Presley's first record sells for $300,000 at 80th birthday auction

On what would have been the King’s 80th birthday, an acetate recording of the Elvis ballad My Happiness has sold at auction for the sum of $300,000 (£198,413).

Made in 1953 at Sun Records, the Memphis studio operated by Sam Phillips, it was the first song that Presley, then 18, ever recorded.

Paying $4 for the session, it is said that Presley then left the studios and went to the home of friend Ed Leek to listen to it - as his own family did not have a record player - and left the record behind. My Happiness was offered to the auction house by Leek’s niece, who inherited the record.

The track is a pop standard which was initially made famous in the mid-twentieth century and has been interpreted by a number of artists throughout the decades, including Ella Fitzgerald and Fats Domino.

Bidding began at $50,000 (£330,68) on 8 January and it was purchased by an undisclosed buyer at Presley’s former home Graceland, now also a museum and tourist attraction.

Other items on sale at the auction include an autographed copy of That’s All Right, a custom designed watch featuring a Star of David design, his first driver’s license and the jacket he wore in the Viva Las Vegas film.

To mark the great musician’s birthday, hundreds of fans joined Presley’s family in Memphis, Tennessee, with Presley’s former wife Priscilla and their child Lisa Marie, along with Elvis’ grandchildren, slicing an eight-tier cake to celebrate.

Last week, a number of considerably more pricey items of Elvis memorabilia went on sale: Presley’s pair of personal jets – one of which has a gilded wash basin and plush sleeping quarters – are expected to fetch between $10m and $15m.

Reference :

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/09/elvis-presley-first-record-auctioned-300000-80th-birthday

ELVIS PRESLEY

Elvis Aaron Presley^[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King".

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, when Presley was 13 years old he and his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. His music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Mooreand bassist Bill Black, Presley was an early popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music andrhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who managed the singer for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the leading figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines that coincided with the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, made him enormously popular—and controversial.

In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service: He resumed his recording career two years later, producing some of his most commercially successful work before devoting much of the 1960s to making Hollywood movies and their accompanying soundtrack albums, most of which were critically derided. In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed televised comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley was featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of prescription drug abuse severely damaged his health, and he died in 1977 at the age of 42.

Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century. Commercially successful in many genres, including pop, blues and gospel, he is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music,^[5][6][7][8] with estimated album sales of around 600 million units worldwide.^[9] He was nominated for 14 competitive Grammys and won three, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.